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Rebecca Chambers (Resident Evil)
| series = Resident Evil | artist= Isao Ohishi and Jun Takeuchi (RE) | voiceactor = English Lynn Harris (RE) Hope Levy (REmake) Riva Di Paola (RE0) Stephanie Sheh (UC, RE5, Mercenaries 3D) Erin Cahill (Vendetta) Japanese Ami Koshimizu (REmake HD Remaster, RE0 HD Remaster, Vendetta) | motionactor = Sumie Kaneshiro (REmake) Erin Cahill (Vendetta) | liveactor = Linda (RE live-action cutscenes) Rin Asuka (The Stage) | inuniverse = }} is a fictional character in the Resident Evil horror franchise by Capcom. She was introduced as a supporting character in the original ''Resident Evil'' video game in 1996 and became the protagonist of the prequel game Resident Evil Zero in 2002. In the first Resident Evil, Rebecca is a young officer with the fictitious Special Tactics And Rescue Service police unit and is trapped in a zombie-infested mansion. Zero depicts the events before that ordeal, during which she is separated from her team and forced to partner with escaped convict Billy Coen to survive similar circumstances. Both of these stories were revisited and expanded upon in Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles with a scenario set in between. Rebecca appears in several other games and is one of the heroes of the Resident Evil novel series, that includes novelizations of earlier series materials as well as original stories, and of the games' stage play sequel. She is also one of the three protagonists of the animated film Resident Evil: Vendetta, alongside Leon S. Kennedy and Chris Redfield. Biography Background A talented girl, Rebecca graduated college at the young age of 18. Her expertise in chemistry and medicine earned her a position in the Special Tactics And Rescue Service, a Raccoon City Police Department branch handling specialist cases. She was assigned as Rear Security (RS) and Medic for the Bravo team. She became the unit's youngest and most inexperienced member, which made her quite nervous around her teammates. Because of this, she was eager to please and has been known to take on any task assigned to her without hesitation. First mission On July 23, 1998, Rebecca was sent into the Arklay Mountains on her first case to investigate a series of cannibalistic homicides. Bravo team's helicopter broke down over the Raccoon Forest, and an emergency landing was made. The team did not know that this was intentional.In the original Resident Evil, Rebecca comments that was odd for the helicopter to break down, as she serviced it shortly before the mission. During Bravo team's search around the area, they discovered the wreckage of a military police van and found the corpses of the driver and guard, along with the document of a prisoner: ex-Marine lieutenant Billy Coen, who was being transported to a military base for execution. Upon further investigation of the area, Rebecca split from the group and discovered the Umbrella Corporation's private company train, the Ecliptic Express. Within the train, Rebecca immediately encountered the passengers, who had already succumbed to the t-Virus infection and turned into zombies as a result of an earlier attack. Rebecca was able to defend herself for a while, and eventually came across the fugitive, Billy Coen. Rebecca found an injured and infected Edward Dewey, who passed out into a death-like coma state immediately before the arrival of his Cerberus attackers. Faced with the new situation, Rebecca reluctantly agreed to an alliance with Billy.Resident Evil 0 (2002), scene: "Edward's Death" The train began to move again, due to the dexterous manipulations of Umbrella operatives already sent by Albert Wesker and William Birkin.Resident Evil 0 (2002), Scene: "Delta Team"Excerpt from ''Resident Evil 0 (2002), Scene: "Delta Team":'' Team leader: This is Delta team, this is delta team. We have regained control of the train - over. Albert Wesker: Understood... Albert Wesker: How far away are you from the nearest branch line? Team leader: About ten minutes to... arg! Securing the control cabin, the train was sped up to reach the abandoned Umbrella Research Center within ten minutes. The team was attacked by mutated leeches, who had adopted a hive-mind. Rebecca and Billy managed to reach the cabin after finding the keycard hidden in a briefcase.Resident Evil 0 (2002) gameplay Finding the controls locked, Billy realized that the train's controls were damaged while speeding up, meaning that it would derail and crash- killing them, if they didn't use the train's emergency brakes. Rebecca ran to the rear of the train to activate the emergency brake controls on that side, while Billy stayed in the cabin to operate the brake controls in there. On her way, she discovered Edward, now awake as a Zombie.Resident Evil 0 (2002), Scene: "Edward Becomes a Zombie" Unable to stop him walking towards her, hungry for flesh, Rebecca was forced to kill him. Rebecca and Billy finally activated the emergency brakes, but it was too late to stop the train.Resident Evil 0 (2002), Scene: "Train Crash" The train exploded through a tunnel into the Training facility's station, impacting on the track's buffers and its carriages hurled across the room. Despite the odds, the two survived the crash in good condition. Now on new ground, the two explored the expansive training facility and its laboratory, uncovering brief dark moments in the facility's history, such as the use of Bio Organic Weapons,Resident Evil 0 (2002), File: "B.O.W. Report" the director's developing insanity,Resident Evil 0 (2002), File: "Leech Growth Records" and the growing rivalry between two employees, one of whom had the same first name as the head of S.T.A.R.S.Resident Evil 0 (2002), File: "Assistant Director's Diary" Searching for Billy Coen The two would find trouble several times, however, leading to Rebecca being attacked by an enormous centipede,Resident Evil 0, Centurion boss fight and nearly falling to her death after being attacked by a monkey; fortunately, Billy arrived in time to save her life.Resident Evil 0 (2002), Scene: "Eliminator is Released" Afterwards, Rebecca, having her doubts about the charges against Billy, questioned him about it. Billy revealed that, operating under false information, his unit made their way to an African village believed to be used as a terrorist training ground, but it was actually full of innocent civilians; unwilling to go back empty-handed, Billy's commanding officer ordered the villagers' executions and used Billy as a scapegoat. The two soon uncovered further dark deeds, such as human experimentation.Resident Evil 0 (2002), "Management Trainee's Diary" After starting up an underground gondola, Billy pushed Rebecca out of the way of an attacking Eliminator, the two falling down into the waters below. On her own, Rebecca made it to the other side, where she found Captain Enrico.Resident Evil 0 (2002), Scene: "Enrico and Rebecca" Telling him about losing Billy, Enrico agrees to let her look for him, as long as she is careful. After this, he heads back to his team's meeting point. On her way to an elevator, the steel shutter behind her closed, and a monster attacked from behind the rubble.Resident Evil 0, T-001 boss fight 1 Defeating the beast, she went down the elevator and found Billy in the water below. After activating the facility's dam, the two found each other, but to their horror, the bones of many people used in the director's experiments had been thrown around where they were standing.Resident Evil 0 (2002), Scene: "Billy is Rescued" Determined to get out of the place alive, the two fought insurmountable odds before reaching the exit.T-001 boss fight (2), Plague crawler attack, leeches There, they found the director, James Marcus, unusually youthful looking for an elderly man.Resident Evil 0 (2002), Scene: "Confrontation With Marcus" The doctor explained to them that his gruesome death at the hands of Umbrella and with his trusting students Albert and William, and his rebirth from his leeches, he is the man who spread the t-Virus. The doctor suddenly began to vomit out leeches before mutating into a sickening Leech-like foe. Although he seemed impervious to firearms, Rebecca and Billy quickly discovered that Marcus was vulnerable to sunlight.Marcus/Queen Leech boss fight (2) Billy baited Marcus, while Rebecca was opening the roof hatch eventually exposing Marcus to the light of day. Rebecca tossed Billy a Magnum, who fired at the creature in its weakened state, killing it.Resident Evil 0 (2002), scene: "Ending cutscene" The monster plummeted down a cargo elevator shaft, while flames went up as the facility's auto-destruct timer ended. The two escaped just before the training facility/mansion exploded. Rebecca took Billy's Dog Tag, a symbol of a soldier's death, to give Billy a chance of freedom. Afterwards, Billy walked into the trees, never to be seen again. Looking down the cliff edge, Rebecca noticed another mansion; which she remembered Enrico having told her about. Mansion Incident After splitting up with Billy, Rebecca reached the mansion later that morning, only to find no one there.Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles (2007), level: "Nightmare 1" Tired from her experiences of the previous night, she fell asleep in one of the servant dormitory's bedrooms. During the night of the July 24th, she had recurring nightmares regarding a giant snake and was eventually awoken by fellow Bravo team member Richard Aiken. The two searched the grounds for Marini, whom they relied on for safety after the team split up. However, due to a heightened amount of Web Spinners, the two were forced to abort the search of the grounds and went into the mansion, unaware that their captain would soon come into the dark tunnels near the spider's den. Upon arriving at the mansion and fending off some monsters, she and Richard began to realize the events at the mansion were connected to the Arklay murders they had been investigating, so they agreed that they needed to focus on survival first and foremost. While navigating around the Mansion, she and Richard also witnessed Sergei Vladimir and an Ivan carrying a body bag towards the woods, causing them to become suspicious of the entire affair. After being attacked by a flock of crows, which Richard scared away with gunshots, Rebecca wondered if she and Richard were the only members of Bravo Team left. However, their conversation was short-lived when they were ambushed by a giant snake. They were forced to flee, eventually managing to temporarily evade via the hallways. They encountered the snake again in the attic library.Rebecca tells Chris this after he finds them. After a lengthy battle, Richard shoved her out of the way when the snake went after her. She hesitated to shoot the Snake out of risk of hitting Richard, instead deciding to aim for the lower body. This irritating it enough to spit out Richard and flee. Richard told her to have hope that someone would rescue them, but Rebecca was struggling with the feeling that their situation was hopeless.Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles (2007), level: "Nightmare 2" Help arrives Alpha Team was sent to rescue Bravo team,Resident Evil (2002), scene: "Opening cutscene"Excerpt from ''Resident Evil (2002) opening cutscene'': "Alpha team is flying around the forest zones situated in north-west Raccoon City, where we are searching for the helicopter of our compatriots - Bravo team, who disappeared during the middle of their mission" and Rebecca was found by Alpha team member Chris Redfield, whose team faced a similar problem to that of Bravo team. Richard would give Chris his radio so he could call for help, not knowing that it was broken.Brad called three times, but does not receive any responses due to Richard's malfunctioning Walkie Talkie Eventually, the two uncovered that the Alpha team leader; Albert Wesker, was the one who masterminded the deaths of several S.T.A.R.S. members and was personally responsible for Enrico Marini's assassination. She was shot by him, but she survived due to her bulletproof vest. After awakening the monstrous Tyrant (T-002 Model), Wesker was swiftly impaled by its claws, dying temporarily. After escaping it, Chris and Rebecca, along with Alpha team members Jill Valentine and Barry Burton, headed up for the heliport after the Mansion's auto-destruct was activated.Resident Evil Archives (2005), p.?? The creature would heal from its wounds and attack the surviving S.T.A.R.S. mercilessly.T-002 boss fight (2) Luckily, Alpha team's pilot, Brad Vickers, flew over and dropped a Rocket launcher to be used on the monster. After the beast was eradicated by the explosive missile, the four escaped with Brad back home. Upon her return to civilization, Rebecca wrote a police report detailing Billy Coen's "death".Resident Evil 2 (1999), file: "Rebecca's Report". After that she left Raccoon City before its demise. She was the sole survivor of the S.T.A.R.S. Bravo team after the Mansion Incident, and one of the four former S.T.A.R.S. members still alive (the others being Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, and Barry Burton).Resident Evil (2002)Wesker died in 2009 and Brad in 1998, leaving the number of living members lower than the six just after the mission. Work with the B.S.A.A. Sometime after the Raccoon City Destruction Incident, Rebecca joined the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance, or B.S.A.A., as an advisor, eventually participating in multiple missions and aiding in stopping biohazardous outbreaks.BIOHAZARD THE STAGE In 2005 she responded in an outbreak in Rochester, a city in Minnesota, United States of America where she met Tyler Howard, a young police officer who was injured during bio-terrorist attack . Philosophy University outbreak In 2010, Rebecca was invited as a guest lecturer at the Philosophy University in Western Australia, where she was involved in another bioterrorist attack. Here she again met with her colleague, Chris Redfield who now also worked for the B.S.A.A, alongside Piers Nivans and Sophie Home. However, Rebecca revealed to Tyler Howard that she is a B.S.A.A. operative and that she assumed the cover of a university professor to conduct the investigation of Liam Howard, Tyler's father and a professor rumored to be experimenting with T-virus on the university grounds.Excerpt from ''BIOHAZARD THE STAGE (2015) synopsis'': 西オーストラリアの大学で突如起こったバイオテロ事件。 現地に到着した対バイオテロ部隊BSAAのピアーズとクリスは、 その大学で教鞭をとる元S.T.A.R.S.隊員レベッカらと協力し事態の鎮圧を図る。 New York outbreak Some time after the bioterror attacks of 2013, Rebecca had been researching in the cure of a new strain of virus developed by bioterrorist Glenn Arias, the research was conducted at the Alexander Institute of Biotechnology in Chicago. During the research, Maria Gomez attacked the facility, infecting all employees but Rebecca thanks to her prototype vaccine. Chris and his BSAA soldiers arrived just in time to save Rebecca from the infected. Having learned that the mysterious virus strain bore similarities to the Las Plagas parasite used by Los Iluminados, Rebecca accompanied Chris to meet with DSO agent Leon S. Kennedy, to enlist his help. Nadia & Damien asked why Rebecca quit her Law Enforcement Career to become a scientist. Rebecca replied that while Chris fight bioterrorism with his muscle, she fight them with her knowledge. Distraught at Chris and Leon immediately quarreling upon their arrival, Rebecca angrily chastised both men, revealing that the virus Arias used was already within the bodies of people everywhere and simply needed to be activated by an external trigger. Leaving behind a sample of her vaccinated blood and a laptop full of data on vaccine production, she left with disgust. It was at this time that Maria and Diego Gomez kidnapped her and took her to Arias' New York hideout. Rebecca awakens to be confronted by Glenn Arias having ordered her be taken alive. As the two talk, Rebecca reveals all she has learned about the A-virus which impressed her capture. Glenn then reveals his motives for capturing Rebecca as she resembled Glenn's deceased bride-to-be, Sara. Glenn attempts to put Sara's wedding band onto Rebecca's hand, but her resistance leads him to decide that he will put Sara's arm on Rebecca instead. Using Rebecca's blood, a stronger strain of the A-virus is conceived with Rebecca involuntarily becoming the first test subject. She is told that she will have 20 minutes until the strain takes full effect and leaves her guarded as he makes his way to the roof. Following an encounter with Chris fighting Diego and a surgeon, Chris saves Rebecca, however with the A-Virus still in her system. The two then travel to the roof to confront Glenn with Rebecca's condition worsening by the second. Following the confrontation Rebecca tells Chris he must kill her as time is running short, but Chris declined. Rebecca looks onward at the fight as Leon, Chris, and Chris' unit, the Silver Dagger battles the Diego/Glenn BOW hybrid. With the battle won thanks to everyone's combined efforts Chris administers the cure to Rebecca, saving her life. The three reflect on their survival of yet another horror as they release the cure into the air around the affected parts of New York. Rebecca recalls the last time she and Chris shared a helicopter ride together and how it all feels very similar to back then. Relationships Rebecca's relationship with Chris developed greatly through the course of the original Resident Evil. She would aid him periodically and he would save on a few different occasions from the various monsters in the mansion; the hunter. It's possible through her, she reminds him of his sister Claire Redfield as they are around the same age. Her character is usually complementing the male characters that are older and stronger than herself throughout the series as she is very intellectual. Her relationships from the start of the series are mostly those of the Bravo team. Within Resident Evil 0, she teams up with felon marine Billy Coen to survive. They start off on seemingly distrusting terms, but become quite loyal to each other to which she in return issue him "dead" so he could go free. Later, in Resident Evil, she and Richard Aiken try to survive the mansion and he is bitten by the snake. His death hits her as she is the only remaining Bravo Team member. She sticks with Chris for the rest and they aid each other until they survive. She is acquainted with Albert Wesker, Jill Valentine and Barry Burton as well as other Alpha team, but as stated before being young and a recruit to S.T.A.R.S. she was intimidated by the Alpha team so the relationships were brief. She can be seen with Jill on Chris's part of Resident Evil when battling Tyrant. She is acquainted with Leon Scott Kennedy during the events of Resident Evil Vendetta. By this time, Chris's relationship with Rebecca and Leon's are even stronger having survived another incident. Bibliography * Character design In the original Resident Evil, Rebecca was portrayed in the game's live-action cut-scenes by an unknown actress simply credited as "Linda", and voiced by an uncredited Lynn Harris, who also worked as the voice-over director of the game. The game's director Shinji Mikami said in 2014: "If I had to name the woman character I most disliked in my games it would be Rebecca Chambers. She’s submissive, she’s not independent. I didn’t want to include her but the staff wanted that kind of character in the game, for whatever reason. I’m sure it made sense to them. And in Japan, that character is pretty popular." For Resident Evil 0, Rebecca's character was modeled after the J-pop star Ayumi Hamasaki, who also served as Capcom's official spokeswoman for the game in Japan. GAF - News - Resident Evil 0 gets a spokesperson While her standard outfit is rather androgynous, Rebecca's alternate costumes in the games "expose her midriff and voluptuous shape".Gladys L. Knight, Female Action Heroes: A Guide to Women in Comics, Video Games, Film, and Television (Greenwood, 2010), p.206. In the remake of RE0, Rebecca's face was remodeled and pre-order bonuses included a nurse costume for her. In Zero, where she is a starting character, Rebecca is weaker than Billy and as such can absorb much less damage and cannot push heavier objects. Her unique skill is her ability to mix various chemicals. In the Mercenaries mode of RE5, Rebecca is armed with an MP5 submachine gun, and her melee moves include flame spray, tear gas and taser attacks, but most of them do not instantly kill. To compensate that, she is the only character that starts with two first-aid sprays and extra ammo. In The Mercenaries 3D, Rebecca is an unlockable character with the highest recovery but with the lowest armor (her alternate nurse costume makes her take recover health faster and take even more damage). She carries five healing herbs, an MP5 and a grenade launcher, and her high-damage flame spray attack is replaced by a push out move. Reception The character of Rebecca Chambers has been mostly positively received. According to PlayStation Official Magazine, "her starring role in Resident Evil Zero made her a fan favourite." GameDaily featured her as its "Babe of the Week" as "a true American hero";Chris Buffa, "Babe of the Week: Rebecca Chambers," GameDaily (September 19, 2008). she was included among the 112 most important female characters in games by PC Games Hardware in 2008,Thilo Bayer (Jan 01, 2008), PCGH history: The most important female characters in games, PC Games Hardware. and was ranked as the 93rd best looking game girl by GameHall's Portal PlayGame in 2014. Dan Paradis of WatchMojo.com included her sudden disappearance from the video games' storyline among top ten "unresolved videogame storylines" and ranked the pair of Rebecca and Billy Coen as ninth on his top list of video game duos. IGN included Rebecca among the characters they would like to return in Resident Evil 6, and Brazilian website Legião dos Heróis proposed a continuation of the story of Rebecca and Billy for a plot of the next Resident Evil CG-animated film by Capcom. Joystiq praised her inclusion in Resident Evil 5 s downloadable content, similarly stating "we're all for bringing her back."David Hinkle, "Famitsu: Rebecca Chambers and Barry Burton in RE5: Mercenaries Reunion," Joystiq (February 9, 2010). In 1997, Edge used as picture of Rebecca (mislabeled as "Jill") as an illustration for "positive females who don't parade around in their underwear.""Girl Trouble", Edge 52, page 66. Six years later in 2003, Edge listed both Jill Valentine and Rebecca Chambers, as well as some other survival horror genre female protagonists including Claire Redfield, as "strong, non-exploitative female leads" who are "undeniably attractive, but they don't ponce about in leather cat suits.""Digital Women: Desire and Loathing in Videogame Industry", Edge 121, page 61. Spanish magazine PlanetStation ranked her as second top "pair of neurons" in their 1999 listings of the best PlayStation characters.PlanetStation 10 p.40. While evaluating which of the Resident Evil heroes is best dressed to survive a real-life zombie apocalypse, GamesRadar found Rebecca to be "more practically attired than Ada Wong or Jill Valentine" and remarked on her looks of a "pre-pubescent tom boy."Matt Cundy, Which Resident Evil hero is best dressed for a zombie apocalypse?, GamesRadar, March 11, 2009. One essay in Unraveling Resident Evil commented on a "traditional trope" of "a virgin or tomboy, Rebecca and Claire," contrasting them with Ada.Nadine Farghaly, Unraveling Resident Evil: Essays on the Complex Universe of the Games and Films, McFarland & Company, page 128. References External links *Rebecca Chambers at the Internet Movie Database Category:Resident Evil characters Category:Video game characters in comics Category:Video game characters in film Category:Video game characters in literature Category:Capcom protagonists Category:Characters in American novels of the 20th century Category:Female video game characters Category:Fictional European-Americans Category:Fictional chemists Category:Fictional medical personnel Category:Fictional professors Category:Fictional special forces personnel Category:Fictional police officers Category:Fictional characters based on real people Category:Fictional characters introduced in 1996